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Dark Dark Dark - "Bright Bright Bright"

Dark Dark Dark's "Bright Bright Bright" now qualifies as an oldie - the title track of the Minneapolis band's excellent last EP - but we're taking the occasion to revisit because they're coming to town (LA readers: August 2 at The Avenue 50 Mini-Museum) and they have a new album locked and loaded for the fall (readers everywhere: October 5) and it's never too early or too late to hop on a bandwagon. The Minneapolis band's curious knack for compelling chamber-drama has won them comparisons to the likes of Beirut and The Arcade Fire, while singer Nona Marie Invie shares some similarities to Regina Spektor, particularly on "Bright Bright Bright." Bear in mind that these are reference points, not templates; Dark Dark Dark have already carved out their own space, and hopefully October's introduction to their Wild Go will continue the expansion and evolution.

Kira - "Riders of the Freeway" (.aiff)

I was trying to figure out why I fell into the judge-book-by-cover trap with Kira, and I think it may be Shakira's fault. There's the obvious similarity between the two names, and on the cover of Kira's US debut, she strikes a sexy pose with her one-word name advertised in sexy red in the corner. But the Danish Grammy winner is not some meek, tarted-up or pre-packaged pop starlet. Instead, I got someone who actually earns the PJ Harvey comparisons for once, particularly on tracks like "Make a Man," which sounds positively... well, man-eating. "Riders of the Freeway" starts with some psych-rock jangle that could denote a trip to Brian Jonestown, but then in comes that voice. Kira was discovered by Tricky; it could be the best thing he's done in the last few years.

Spoek Mathambo - "Mshini Wam"

One of the most anticipated albums of the fall here at Red Alert Global HQ is Spoek Mathambo's Mshini Wam. At least, it would be if we weren't gifted with an advance copy. It's a hot one. As a sneak preview, Mathambo has released the title track into the wild, and - while the album is nicely multi-textured - "Mshini Wam" serves as a fair representation of the party as a whole. The story behind the song is interesting; Mathambo is flipping the script on a popular South African military song - and it's true that "Mshini Wam" (both the album and the song) are more likely to inspire lovemaking than war-making... though it may first inspire a few hours of communal roof-raising before you steal away for anything intimate. The 24-year-old Mathambo is marching to his own electronic beat here. Oh, and if you get the chance to see this all brought to life in person: go. Granted, they were reporting on their own party, but The FADER raved after a recent concert in Soweto: "Best party of all time."

Sharon Van Etten - "Love More"

Sharon Van Etten - "I Couldn't Save You"

Sharon Van Etten and Marie-Claire Balabanian- "Keep Trying"

We've kept mum on Sharon Van Etten for too long; now that she's here, we're operating under the very sound assumption that one track just isn't going to be enough. Tell your heart to get ready to have its ass kicked. "Love More" is an early arrival from her second album, Epic, slated for release in October. The devastating piano ballad "I Couldn't Save You" appears on the well-stocked soundtrack for Rick Alverson's The Builder. And her collaboration with Speck Mountain's Marie-Claire Balabanian was made available by our friends at Eardrums. She's already gaining (and earning) a lot of buzz, but if Epic meets its expectations, she could be on her way to a Bon Iver-sized breakout.

Bilal - "Free"

Rewind almost a decade and Bilal seems to be a decent bet to become a soul superstar (or - "neo-soul," sorry). He had the pedigree as a member of the star-studded Soulquarians; his cohorts included D'Angelo, Common, Erykah Badu and the late, great J Dilla. His debut didn't resonate in the mainstream quite like it was expected, and then years later he had a potentially major follow-up jerked around by Interscope because it leaked early and they probably weren't sure why he couldn't pander a little more to commercial sensibilities. But you can't keep a good soul man down, and Bilal is back in triumphant form on "Free," singing sweetly of life's oft-crappy but ultimately rewarding highway ("no road is too rough to travel / we'll walk barefoot on life's gravel).

The Gentle Guest - "Judgment"

Caveat emptor! Based on "Judgment," The Gentle Guest will not, in fact, be gentle guests. Instead, these young Wisconsinites - yes, another ear-grabbing band from Justin Vernon's hometown of Eau Claire - import some righteous fire and brimstone from down south for this preview of their upcoming sophomore release, Cast Off Your Human Form. It's a ragtime rampage!

Dan Sartain - "Atheist Funeral"

My enjoyment of this track is in no way limited to the fact that I'd like to transmit its instruction - "Don't you speak about god at my funeral!" - to all friends and family upon my death. This bit of clear-thinking, boot-stomping rockabilly is brought to you by a man who's been doing his own thing for the better part of the last decade, and will hopefully find new audiences this summer while out on the road with Social Distortion, in support of his new album Dan Sartain Lives, out on the venerable label One Little Indian.

Andy Clockwise - "Stealing Cars"

Andy Clockwise definitely has some of the dramatic baritone flair of his countryman Nick Cave. Around these parts, that's meant as high praise indeed, especially when Clockwise carefully keeps himself away from any sort of knockoff territory. His adventurous spirit comes across clearly even on the short running time of the Are You Well? EP, which is led by this bold show-stopper "Stealing Cars," and also includes a mellow duet with Lissie and a well-done cover of Bjork's classic "Hyperballad." While The Red Alert has yet to experience a Clockwise in his natural live habitat, word on the street is that his concerts are peculiarly participatory (LA readers, he's coming to the Troubadour on July 13).

Carissa's Wierd - "Die"

Having included Carissa's Wierd at #4 in my Best Albums of the '00s, I'm more than a little bummed to not be able to see the band's one-off reunion show this summer (it's in Seattle and I'm in LA). But it's not like the members of the now-iconic, then-obscure indie sad-sack outfit are hard to track down: Mat Brooke leads Grand Archives, Ben Bridwell leads Band of Horses, and Sera Cahoone and Jenn Ghetto (playing as S) have solo careers well worth tracking.

It's of course fitting that the band's career retrospective is titled They'll Only Miss You When You Leave: Songs 1996-2003. "Die" is a good window into the album, capturing the band's signature sadness, heavy on strings, driven by a piano dirge, with two vulnerable voices wrapping around each other. It's probably better for all parties involved that they parted ways, and I'm grateful for the music that the separation has spawned. But hearing "Die" brings back some happy memories of some of the saddest music I've ever known.

Apollo Brown feat. Rapper Big Pooh and Black Milk - "Hungry"

Detroit digs in deep on "Hungry," a choice cut off Apollo Brown's newly released The Reset (buy on iTunes). The production is big and brash, and the MCs rise to the occasion, with the ever-fabulous Black Milk providing the carpe diem hook: "I can't sleep, I'm on the grind, I'm hungry." Whatever you're doing right now, Apollo & Co. will help put some swagger in your step.

Kathryn Calder - "Slip Away"

I'm sure Kathryn Calder is tired of being compared to Boston Celtics starting center Kendrick Perkins, but it's just inescapable. OK, maybe it's actually very escapable, but given that the NBA Finals are upon us, it's an easy reference point. Ask someone to name the members of the Boston Celtics or the New Pornographers and it's unlikely that Perkins or Calder will make the front of the list, if they're on the list at all. Perkins, 25, toils alongside three (maybe four) future Hall of Famers, while Calder is a relatively new addition to Canada's indie rock institution and is in the considerable shadows of Dan Bejar, Neko Case and Carl Newman. She's also had the daunting challenge to fill in for Case when she's unable to join the band on the road.

Are You My Mother? (out August 10) is Calder's chance to define herself as an artist - and, frankly, "Slip Away" is better than the majority of tracks on the latest New Pornographers album. The song starts out slight, then opens into an electrified ooh-ooh-oooh chorus that really starts to hint at Calder's vocal and melodic chops. If the album bears out the promise of the lead track, her band may want to start keeping an eye out for the replacement to Case's replacement.

Suckers - "A Mind I Knew"

Do people really get tired of bands from NY and LA? Folks singing the praises of Brooklyn's Suckers sometimes act half-apolgetic - "yes, another band from New York... wait, come back!" Really? The fact that an inordinate number of good indie-rock bands come from our two biggest cities is not a passing trend - it's a statistical probability.

The more interesting piece of science is how Frenchkiss Records keeps picking winners; regardless of what you may think of The Antlers or Local Natives or Passion Pit or Freelance Whales or Les Savy Fav (the flagship, and still the best of the bunch), there's no question that Frenchkiss has become one of those indie labels - like Sub Pop or Merge before them - where every release is feeling like an event - or, at the very least, a possible event.

Moneybrother - "Born Under a Bad Sign"

Moneybrother's Anders Wendin has an easy way with a huge pop hook, but he also has a love for sweaty barroom rock and roll; it's those rougher edges that have won him (overblown) comparisons to Bruce Springsteen and, more sensibly, attracted the attention and fellowship of folks like Against Me!'s Tom Gabel. "Born Under a Bad Sign" is a straight-up big-time pop jam that will fire up your happy feet; it doesn't give much hint of the other styles that await on Real Control, but it does show where Wendin has the most potential for making a big crossover splash (over yonder, he's a Grammy winner and gold record maker; Real Control is his full-length debut in America).

Mike Patton - "Urlo Negro"

OK, now this is pretty awesome. Take the versatile and sometimes violent-sounding voice of Tomahawk, Faith No More and Mr. Bungle and stick him with a big ol' orchestra, put him in a nice suit (look how handsome he looks!) and turn him loose on a classic Italian song catalog. Mondo Cane is a wild album that, suffice to say, is not for everyone - but to these ears, the screeching but suave "Urlo Negro" - which has its roots as a civil rights song from the '60s - is one of the most jubilant jams going right now.

Phosphorescent - "The Mermaid Parade"

First of all, if Phosphorescent leader Matthew Houck winds up back in the Red Alert interview chair, we're definitely going to have to ask him about his promo photos, which seem to just keep getting more awesome. We last heard from Phosphorescent on last year's Willie Nelson tribute To Willie, and just the title Here's To Taking It Easy seems like a natural continuation from the easy warmth of that outing. And here we are back at that promo photo again - because damned if "The Mermaid Parade" doesn't sound just like that photo looks. It's a classic, graceful summer rock slow jam, the sort of thing that makes me want to walk down to the beach and manufacture some fresh cares just so I can drink them away.

The Love Language - "Heart to Tell"

The Love Language's "Lalita" was one of the major songs of last year for us, and the self-titled album by Stuart McLamb & Co. suggested big things ahead - although it was also the sort of album so specifically inspired by a (rotten) moment in time that there was some risk that the lightning wouldn't be recaptured. We were further encouraged when the band landed on Merge, and while "Heart to Tell" doesn't quite have the delirious replay value of "Lalita," it shows that McLamb was hardly a one-time fluke. In an interview with The Red Alert, he referred to his last album as a "hi-fi album using shitty equipment." By the sounds of it, he has some better equipment this time out, but he preserves the spontaneous spirit that made the last record jump from the pack.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Round and Round"

This one is a stunner - not just because it's a good song (and it is) but because of its context. At some point years ago in my LA showgoing career, I came across Ariel Pink as an opener for... well, I don't even remember. But I remember Pink. He was/is a cult hero, the sort of lo-fi avant-garde sub-genre artist who'd recorded hundreds of strange songs on cassette and made fans out of Animal Collective along the way. I thought he was terrible - and apparently lots of other people did, too (you're damn right that's an Angelfire link!) I wrote him off. And when "Round and Round" started getting blogosphere hype, I wrote that off.

Dumb move. "Round and Round" is so redefining that I almost worried it was a put-on - like he was subversively making fun of people who liked polished, '70s-inspired pop music. And that's really what this is, filtered through a stoner's black light. Killer chorus.

Phantogram - "When I'm Small"

The standout track on a strong album, "When I'm Small" wastes no time sinking its hooks in, built on a Portishead-descended electro-pop beat perched perfectly and precariously between sexy and sinister - all leading up to a stirring end stretch kickstarted by one of the harshest lyrical kissoffs imaginable.

Damien Jurado - "Arkansas"

Rather quietly, Damien Jurado continues to prove himself as one of the top-shelf singer-songwriters in his generation, doing so with the sort of steady hand that makes him a not especially appealing prospect for the buzz-and-backlash cycle of the blogosphere. His ninth album, Saint Bartlett, will probably arrive in a similar fashion as the ones before it: critically approved, enthusiastically received by loyal fans, and slightly overlooked by the general public (and even general indie public) at large. "Arkansas" is a first-class ambassador for the album, an achingly sentimental song that's already become a live favorite.

Donwill - "Laura's Song" (Radio Edit)

As mentioned in the review for Don Cusack in High Fidelity, "Laura's Song" has been making the rounds for a while, though the album has just come out - so you won't get credit for stumbling upon a hot new track. But the fact that it's burrowed back in our collective head is a testament to the staying power of this single from one-third of the much-loved Tanya Morgan. Classic hip-hop and a classic tale of heartbreak.

Quasi - "Repulsion"

In our interview with Quasi drummer extraordinaire Janet Weiss, she talked about the importance of leading off an album with a statement and a change of direction. "Repulsion," which leads off the band's fine new record American Gong, sets the tone for an album that raises a mighty racket. This is classic, jubilant and revitalized indie-rock.

Wild Beasts - "All the King's Men"

One of the highlights from the English quartet's dazzling first show in Los Angeles was this enigmatic and endlessly listenable track that's been making the rounds since the album's release last fall. We're dusting it off again for anyone who missed it at the time; if you see these guys are coming through town, the live version is even better.

Basia Bulat - "Gold Rush"

"Gold Rush" is a wonderfully bracing highlight on Basia Bulat's second album, Heart of My Own - which finds the Canadian singer/songwriter continuing to climb the ladder into the upper echelons of contemporary indie-folk or whatever it's called. Bulat has a commanding voice that recalls some classic folkies, but also at times the guttural power of someone like Sleater-Kinney's Corin Tucker.

Best Coast - "When I'm With You"

Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast raises expectations for her upcoming full-length debut with this summery and deliriously catchy lo-fi blast. Check out our interview to learn more about Best Coast, including the latest on the new album (and some stuff about weed, Nike and Katy Perry, too).